A Nevada County school that suffered two break-ins last year has been hit again, this time for water. Grizzly Hill School on the San Juan Ridge was robbed sometime last week of 4000 gallons of well water. Principal Superintendent James Berardi says at first the facilities manager wasn’t sure what happened.

Click here to listen to James Berardi

Normal water usage during the school year is approximately 2000 gallons per week. So 4000 gallons in one night when school is out is significant.
It turns out that the Family Resource Center and The North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center have also been victims. Beraradi says the water theft is likely due to changing water conditions because of the drought.

Click here to listen to James Berardi

As a result someone is going around tapping into the school’s and other facilities’ water supply. The thefts effect the entire community.

Click here to listen to James Berardi

Earlier this year the school was broken into twice and a significant amount of food was stolen. Security cameras caught the suspect in the act.

Berardi says, besides shutting the wells off at night, there are several options that he will use to improve security to help prevent further theft but he did not want to disclose what he is going to implement. Anyone with knowledge of the water thefts is asked to contact he school or the sheriff office.